Steel distribution companies in Brazil sold 317,900 tonnes of flat products in February, a drop of 13.8 percent from the prior month, industry group Sindisider said in a report on Wednesday.

February sales were 7.5 percent below the amount sold a year earlier. Distributors bought 8.7 percent less steel in February from the previous month. Inventory rose 2.4 percent from September to the equivalent of 3.1 months of sales, or 970,400 tonnes, Sindisider said.

Analysts at several banks, including BTG Pactual Group and JPMorgan Securities, said recently that demand for both long and flat steel products, including coated and rolled steel, remains weak in Latin America’s largest economy.